Full-scale soil remediation has begun in Lamor’s Kuwaiti projects
April 30, 2024 at 03:46 am EDT
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The second soil washing plant in Lamor’s soil cleaning projects in Kuwait has started operations. Hence, both biological remediation and soil washing are now successfully used on Lamor and Khalid Ali al-Kharafi & Brothers Company’s two individual soil treatment centres.
The joint venture of Lamor and Khalid Ali Al-Kharafi & Bros. Co., a local construction company, is responsible for two projects consisting of the planning and implementation of soil remediation in two separate areas. The work includes the development of the optimal solution, the construction of treatment facilities, and the treatment and restoration of oil-polluted soil. The projects began in 2021 and the biological remediation in early 2023.
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Construction of the soil washing plants, designed and built by the Northern Ireland headquartered CDE Group, started in the second quarter of 2023. The soil washing facility in the North was commissioned in December 2023, followed by the Southern facility, which has just started operations.
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The plant design takes into account the sustainability aspects necessary to minimise environmental impacts as well as to reduce operating costs. For instance, the water used for the treatment origins from wastewater plants in Kuwait, and the plant itself is designed to recycle up to 70% of the water.
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“CDE’s vision is to create our best world, a ton at a time. With both plants now operational, we are realising that vision in Kuwait. We have begun operator training and are gearing up to hand this project over to the joint venture of Lamor and Khalid Ali Al-Kharafi & Bros. Co.”, says Ruchin Garg, Regional Manager of CDE Middle East & Africa. “CDE extends its gratitude to the entire team for their exemplary dedication to safety, as well as our valued partners and stakeholders for their ongoing support. The scale and ambition of this remediation programme cannot be understated. It is a true test of engineering.”
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“We are happy to have all processes up and running now. Legacy soil pollution is an enormous global problem. Our deep expertise and experience in soil remediation help provide right solutions everywhere, especially in demanding conditions”, says Manel Fernandez, Lamor’ Project Director in Kuwait. “Remediation brings life back to once oil-polluted soil.”
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Kuwait soil cleaning is an enormous joint undertaking
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In Kuwait, the UN funds the clean-up of a 114 square kilometre area with about 26 million cubic meters of oil-contaminated soil. The pollution is a consequence of the Gulf War, when hundreds of oil wells were torched in Kuwait, causing the world's largest anthropogenic oil spill. The UN has awarded USD 3 billion for soil remediation activities in the area.
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The treatment technologies consist of both biological cleanup in windrows, i.e. bioremediation, for soils with lower petrochemical contamination, and mechanical soil washing for contaminated soil with a higher, i.e. over 5 percent hydrocarbon content.
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During the first nine months of operation in 2023, Lamor’s bioremediation solutions cleaned and restored over 1.5 million tonnes of soil, which is about 33,000 truckloads. The soil washing facilities will annually treat an additional 728,000 tonnes of contaminated soil.
Lamor is one of the world’s leading providers of environmental solutions. For four decades, we have worked to clean up and prevent environmental incidents on land and at sea.
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Environmental protection, soil remediation and material recycling: Our innovative technologies, services and tailored solutions, ranging from oil spill response, waste management and water treatment to soil remediation and plastic recycling, benefit customers and environments all over the world.
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We are capable of vast and fast operations thanks to our connected ecosystem of local partners, steered by our experts. We have over 600 employees in more than 20 countries. In 2023, our turnover was 123 million euros. Lamor's share is listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki (ticker: LAMOR). Further information: www.lamor.com
The large soil washing unit is a small part of the massive soil remediation site Photo: Lamor
Lamor Corporation Oyj is a Finland-based environmental solutions provider. The mission of Lamor is to clean the world, through its three business lines: oil spill response, waste management and water treatment, including related environmental services. The Company is able to provide a wide offering of solutions, which can be tailored according to the individual needs of each customer, and it is able to fast respond to the needs of customers. Lamor Corporation Oyj has several subsidiaries, such as Lamor Corporation UK Ltd, Lamor USA Corporation, Corporacion Para Los Recursos Naturales Corena SA, Lamor Water Technology Oy and Lamor Environmental Solutions Spain SL. Lamor operates in over 100 countries through its partner and distribution networks. The Company has subsidiaries and associated companies in 21 countries.
LAMOR CORPORATION OYJ 
